The first thing Jenna noticed when she opened her eyes was that she had no idea where she was. The walls were very white, and lights were shining directly into her eyes. Jenna tried to look around the room to figure out where she was, but she couldn't move her head.

"Hello?" Jenna called. "Is anyone here?" She heard a door open, but of course, she couldn't see where it was.

Andrews walked into Jenna's line of sight. He stood over Jenna and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm a little sore," Jenna said, and she knew it was true right after she'd said it. "Can we . . . talk? Is anyone in here?"

"We're alone, and your parents won't disturb you for a while," Andrews said. "You did a truly incredible thing. There aren't many Sinixes who've faced a Sugricht and survived, not to mention killing the creature."

"So, it's dead?" Jenna asked. "I thought I'd killed it, but I didn't see it die. Does this mean the killings will stop?"

"Yes," Andrews said. "At least until the next deranged creature decides to start killing people for fun." Jenna sighed, and Andrews instantly apologized, saying, "I'm sorry. You don't need to think about that now. Just relax, you've done well."

"Where am I?" Jenna asked. "Is it still night?"

"You are at the Pollisville Hospital, and it is now eight o'clock in the morning," Andrews said.

"Eight o'clock?" Jenna repeated. "I have to go home! I'm grounded, and my mom doesn't know about the Sinix thing."

Andrews laughed. "Today is Sunday," he said. "You were in surgery for thirteen hours, and you have been sleeping since then." Jenna gaped at Andrews in surprise, and he explained.

"Yesterday, your mom didn't find you until noon. Your bedroom door was locked, and your mother thought you were sleeping. As time passed, however, she became worried and picked your lock with a bobby pin."

"Oh, poor Mom," Jenna said aloud. "So, she found me and a dead monster together in a room? What happened?"

"There was no dead monster," Andrews said. "One of the convenient things about Sugrichts, one of the only convenient things about them, is that after they die, their bodies burn themselves, but not the other things around them. Of course, if you touch their blood, you will probably get burnt, too."

Jenna remembered her hands. She tried to wiggle her fingers, but her hands were covered in bandages. Andrews continued his soliloquy. "Your mother entered your room, and found you in a pool of your own blood. She immediately called an ambulance, then your father."

Jenna tried to imagine her mother seeing her hurt. Her mom had always babied Jenna a little, she'd cried more than Jenna had when Jenna had broken her arm. It was difficult for Jenna to imagine her mother being able to call an ambulance without panicking.

"The police have examined your room," Andrews continued. "Your shirt was off and on the other side of the room, which causes the police to believe your assailant tried to rape you. The abundance of weapons distributed throughout the room have encouraged the conclusion that he was going to kill you afterward, and because some of the knives were so unusual, the police have concluded that the attacker was the serial murder, because it has used similar weapons before."

"So, no one knows the truth?" Jenna asked. "I mean, I know most people aren't going to believe stories about inhuman creatures and secret government programs, but doesn't anyone suspect anything?"

"Well, I'm sure that over the course of the next few weeks, there will be wild stories in tabloids and so forth," Andrews said. "The ridiculous stories they print are usually entirely false, but they are right sometimes. Other than that, I don't think we need to worry about anything."

"What about me?" Jenna asked. "Now that you don't need a special Sinix to fight the Sugricht, are you going to make me suppress these memories and go back to being ordinary Jenna again?"

"That's not an option," Andrews said. "Your memories include times when you were at school and home, now. If we remove these memories, you will notice that they are missing. I'm afraid you'll have to continue your life the way it has been."

"That shouldn't be too bad," Jenna said. "Pollisville is a little town. I'll fight a vampire here, a mutant there, and then go home and forget about it."

"You did kill a Sugricht, and that is quite a feat," said Andrews. "Things should be quiet . . . for a while."

Jenna was going to ask what he'd meant by "for a while," but he was gone before she could question him.

..~.~.~.~

There were no more serial murders, and the police eventually concluded that when Jenna had fought off the "murderer," he'd fled. For a while, Jenna was locally famous. Her picture was on the front page of the newspaper, and her friends always asked her about what had happened. Jenna pretended she didn't like to talk about it, and therefore she didn't have to remember whatever details she told the police.

Jenna healed slowly, but she did heal. When the scars from the burning on her hands had nearly faded, and she was allowed to stop wearing her arm brace, the fame started to heal as well.

A few months later, a house in Pollisville burnt down. Police investigated, and said that the fire was accidental. A woman had thrown a lit cigarette into a trash can full of papers, and ignited the building. No one was hurt.

That night, Jenna did her own investigation, and concluded that the fire had been started by a creature. The time to fight had come again.

The end.